Prayagraj, Feb 4 (IANS): Hundreds and thousands braved the cold and fog on Monday morning and took a holy dip in the Sangam, the trinity of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, on the occasion of 'Mauni Amavasya', officials said.

According to officials, over 1.81 crore people had taken the holy dip till 9 a.m.

Several lakhs started arriving at the Kumbhnagar from Sunday and the entire place bustled with frantic activity as men and women took a dip while religious leaders and spiritual gurus led their disciples into the third royal bathing of Kumbh this year.

Inspector General of Police (Prayagraj) Mohit Agarwal told IANS that adequate security arrangements had been made in and around the Kumbh site.

According to the time table worked out by the Mela administration, Panchayati Akhada Mahanirvani was the first in the order to go to the rivers and take the dip at around 6.15 a.m.

They were followed by the 'bairagis' in sequence of Shri Panchayati Niranjani Akhada, Shri Panch Dashnam Akhada, Akhil Bharatiya Shri Panch Nirvana Akhada, Shri Panchayats Digambar Ani Akhada and Shri Panch Nirmohi Ani Akhada followed by Shri Panchayati Akhada Naya Udaseen and others, officer Vijay Kiran Anand said.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya also took an early morning dip.